About the Producer

I moved to Colorado from Cleveland Ohio in 1991 and live in the Denver area with my wife Sue. I started in broadcasting in 1999 with the creation of the public affairs radio program, Colorado Today, with Sue as co-host. The program was broadcast on AM 1430 KEZW radio through 2006. We presented weekly segments on healthy lifestyle living with interviews featuring healthcare and lifestyle experts, government officials and community activists to share topics of interest to area families. Kaiser Permanente was our primary sponsor for much of our time on-air and provided many of their healthcare professionals as program guests, providing valuable information on maintaining good health to our listeners. Among our many interview guests were the Secretaries of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS); Donna Shalala (President Clinton), Tommy Thompson (President Bush 1st term), and Michael Leavitt (President Bush 2nd term). Colorado Governors; Bill Owens, Bill Ritter, and John Hickenlooper. US Senators; Wayne Allard, Mark Udall, and Ken Salazar. US Representatives; Bob Beaprez, Diana DeGette, and Tom Tancredo, Denver Mayor Wellington Webb and Aurora Mayor Ed Tauer. Health and wellness organizations and lifestyle experts from all over the country were valuable resources for the program. We also did remote broadcasts from area events that showcased healthy lifestyle resources. In 2002, HHS granted us funding through the National Aging Services Grant Program which allowed us to expand into public television along with our radio program. The Rose Community Foundation provided additional funding through their community grant program. The expansion into public television featured fifteen programs on caregiving your elderly loved one that I produced and was hosted by Sue. The broadcasts promoted best practices in eldercare and provided useful information for the family caregiver. The grants were managed by Healthy Aging Today, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and I served as the organization's executive director for the two-year grant period.

Sue and I produced documentaries and educational programming as well. A small sample of the variety of productions are below.

Fighting Breast Cancer - A Personal Story

Sue and I produced a local Public Television special, Fighting Breast Cancer, A Personal Story, broadcast in October 2002 on KBDI-12 PBS (now CPT PBS 12), as their feature broadcast for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Sue was both the broadcast journalist and the breast cancer survivor. Collaborators included the Susan G Komen Foundation and Porter Adventist Hospital, where Sue received her cancer treatment. Porter Adventist Hospital was a major funder of the project as well as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Sue's doctors and healthcare providers were interviewed on camera, as the viewer was shown the process from breast cancer diagnosis, followed by surgery, radiation, chemotherapy and finally with aftercare, in battling the disease. Fortunately, Sue has been cancer free going forward. Although it's been twenty plus years since the original broadcast, the program still has relevance in showing positive outcomes with early detection and treatment of breast cancer. I encourage everyone to view and share this program with your network. It can be lifesaving.

"Most Hallowed Ground" The Story of Arlington National Cemetery

Arlington National Cemetery is considered one of the most sacred places in America. Every year more than four million people visit the cemetery to pay their respects to our fallen heroes. The story of our first national cemetery includes it’s founding during the Civil War, the cemetery’s growth into our “Most Hallowed Ground”, the state funeral of President John F. Kennedy on November 25, 1963, and the creation of the Tomb of the Unknowns – the “heart and soul” of Arlington National Cemetery. We get an up-close look at the Tomb Honor Guards as they perform their special duties and learn about a Full Honors Military Funeral. We conclude our visit with a look at the cemetery today and some of the many monuments dedicated to those who proudly served our country in time of war. "Most Hallowed Ground" was reviewed and recommended by two major scholastic magazines and offered in their DVD catalogs and was used by middle and high schools to educate students about our first National Cemetery dedicated to those who served our country in time of war.

A Simple Thanks

I was invited to be part of the production of the television program titled A Simple Thanks, honoring military veterans from all wars since WWII and the story of the new memorial honoring all veterans in the name of one of their own, SSG Christopher Falkel, killed in Afghanistan in 2005. Produced in 2008 by Douglas County Television in honor of Veteran's Day, military veterans and family members of veterans are represented from all conflicts from WWII through Afghanistan. I was honored to serve as their military historian. Very emotional and powerful piece honoring our veterans in their own words and showing a community coming together to honor one of their fallen. A wonderful tribute to our military veterans and their families given in their own words. For more information about the Highlands Ranch Veterans Monument, visit https://hrvets.org.

Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster, January 28, 1986

In February 2009, I had the honor of interviewing Col Fred Gregory, Astronaut and the first African American to command a space mission. Col Gregory was the lead Capsule Communicator (CAPCOM) for the tragic Challenger mission on January 28, 1986 and shares his memories of that fateful day and the aftermath. The families of the lost crew members decided to honor their loved ones by creating the Challenger Center for Space Science Education that establish Challenger Learning Centers worldwide. There is a Challenger Learning Center in Colorado Springs, where I filmed the interview along with footage of students performing shuttle experiments and ground control simulations. The primary purpose of the filming was to produce two Public Service spots for the local PBS station, featuring Col Gregory and Jim Reilly, also a former astronaut, to encourage students to consider careers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). For more information about the amazing career of Col Gregory go to his Wikipedia biography.

Getting back into broadcasting by creating and self-funding Our Community Broadcasting Network is my way of "paying it forward" to the community that has given us so much over the years. OCBN is in honor of Sue, my wife and broadcasting partner, as she lives with Alzheimer's and is no longer able to work with me. Our collaborative work over the years is our legacy and something that I am very proud of and will always cherish.